Ascend Elements and the U.S. Department of Energy have come to a mutual decision to cancel a $164 million grant that had been intended for the construction of a manufacturing line at the Hopkinsville facility.
That line would have created cathode active material, or CAM, at the Apex 1 facility, but due to changing market conditions, Ascend Elements now plans to produce only cathode precursor, or pCAM, and Lithium Carbonate at the facility. That’s all according to a news release, which details that a remaining Department of Energy grant of $316 million remains for construction at the location in Commerce Park II.
Vice President of Government Affairs Roger Lin says, “We are grateful to the U.S. DOE for selecting Ascend Elements to receive this funding, but current market conditions do not support advancement of the CAM project at Apex 1. We are 100 percent committed to completing construction of the Apex 1 campus in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, but the facility will only produce pCAM and Lithium Carbonate, a critical mineral.”
Most of the world’s pCAM is currently manufactured in China—the Apex 1 facility will be North America’s first commercial-scale manufacturer of the product. Based on market trends, demand for domestic pCAM has exceeded demand for CAM, and Lin says they have buyers lined up to purchase sustainable, domestically produced pCAM and lithium carbonate.
Officials say that by returning the CAM grant, they’re freeing up $164 million of federal funding that the current administration can reallocate as it deems most appropriate.
South Western Kentucky Economic Development Executive Director Carter Hendricks assured that nothing has changed concerning the plans at the Apex 1 facility, including the number of jobs that it will bring to the region. The $164 million grant was for possible future expansion, but the original plan for construction remains in place, to his understanding.